Right now there are three general types of laptops. You’ve got your ridiculously thin, not terribly powerful ones. There’s the desktop replacement laptop, where the power brick alone weighs more than the first category, but the system packs enough power that you don’t mind the chiropractor visits. Then, there are the mid-range machines. These laptops focus on being portable enough to be comfortable to move from place to place, with enough power that the average user both appreciate the speed and be able to play most current games with no issues.

Today, we’re going to take a look at one of the laptops in this third category. Toshiba‘s Satellite line has, for a long time now, been a great collection of mid-to-high-end laptops that combine their unique design style with quality hardware.

First Impressions

Out of the box, the P755 maintains the same design aesthetics as the rest of Toshiba’s line recently. The surface of the laptop, as well as the wrist rests and the touchpad, all have this raised textured design across it. I found the texture to actually be helpful when using the touchpad. The texture is far less raised in the touchpad than it is anywhere else, but the design is just enough to serve as a sort of guide when moving your finger from left to right. This means that when I went to select text on a screen, my finger moved smoothly in a straight line.

Powering the laptop on, you are immediately blinded by the intense white light that comes from the power button, the Satellite Logo, and the stripe across the touchpad that lets you know that the pad is on. Fortunately, Toshiba makes it easy to turn these lights off in their control software. The Satellite booted in about 12 seconds, with the OEM final setup procedures that took about 10 minutes to finish. From the moment I unpacked the box, the laptop was ready to use in about 25 minutes.

Specs

This version of the P755 runs an Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 2.3GHz with 6GB of RAM. Coupled with the Nvidia GeForce GT 540M, this machine will be more than able to handle any task you throw at it. You won’t be playing Crysis with the settings cranked to 11, but you’ll be able to play just anything on the market right now.

A pair of Harman Kardon speakers on the Satellite are pretty standard fare for laptop speakers, a little tinny and no real bass to speak of, but they do produce a pretty decent amount of volume without further degrading what you are listening to. Across the left hand side of the laptop there’s a monitor out, HDMI, Ethernet, SSUSB and a standard USB port. There are two more USB ports on the right hand side of the laptop next to the DVD Super-Multi Drive. The 15-inch monitor on this laptop maxes out at 1366×768, but the backlight is strong enough to handle most outdoor situations. Like most screens, direct sunlight will wash the screen out, but it is still useable. The webcam on the screen gives you a nice widescreen shot, and provides a quality video chat experience.

When tested, the battery lasted about 4.5 hours when being actively used doing something like watching videos, surfing the web, or playing Flash games. When watching a DVD or playing a game, it was much closer to 3.5 hours. From completely dead, however, the laptop will recharge in about 2 hours even when in use.

Eco Mode

Available at the touch of a soft button, and fully configurable, Toshiba has included Eco Mode on this device. Amongst the soft keys above the keyboard is a globe with a leaf growing out of the top of it. This is Eco Mode, and touching it will cause the globe to glow a bright green and the preset power saving settings to kick in.

Everything from screen brightness, LED illumination, and sleep settings can be adjusted automatically by tapping this button. Additionally, Toshiba provides you with an Eco Utility on the computer so you can see the changes that have been made and how they are affecting the computer. Included in this utility is a monitor of how much energy the computer is currently using.

The idea here is to show you that the laptop is using fewer watts with Eco Mode turned on, which is a cool idea especially if you’re the type to nurse your battery life. When I tested this utility, I noticed about a 5 watt change in power consumption, even when doing something significant like watching a video. If you’re performing small tasks, some light browsing or reading, Eco Mode might give you about an hour of extra battery life. Otherwise, the difference doesn’t seem to be terribly significant.

Final Thoughts

Priced right around $700 for this build, the Toshiba Satellite P755 is a great mid-range machine for the money. The laptop was able to handle complex assignments in Adobe Lightroom with ease, and at 5.44 pounds wasn’t too heavy to lug around in a messenger bag. If you are looking for a laptop, meaning not an Ultrabook or a desktop replacement, the P755 is well worth considering.